The Floorbook Approach - Mindstretchers Academy

Want to make planning genuinely child-led, documentation actually meaningful?

The Floorbook Approach® gives early years practitioners a framework that makes all three possible — and has done, in thousands of settings across the world, for over 35 years.

Developed by Dr Claire Warden in 1989, The Floorbook Approach® is a methodology for child-led planning and documentation that puts children's voices at the centre of everything. Recommended by the Care Inspectorate and embedded in the national curriculum framework in Australia.

The Floorbook Approach® helps you:

- Move away from rigid, checklist-driven planning for good
- Capture children's real questions, theories, and ideas as they happen
- Plan with children — not just for them
- Create documentation that satisfies inspectors and means something to your team
- Build a setting where curiosity is the curriculum
- Make early years feel like what you came here to do

What if your planning didn't feel like something you did around the children — but something you built with them, every single day?

Explore The Floorbook Approach®

What is The Floorbook Approach®?

Most practitioners enter early years because they believe children should love learning. They want settings where children are able to lead, where their questions matter, play has purpose, and where documentation captures something real rather than ticking a box.

The Floorbook Approach® is the framework that makes that vision a reality.

At its heart, a Floorbook® is a record co-created by children and practitioners that captures children's thoughts, drawings, questions, and conversations verbatim.

From that record, practitioners plan lines of inquiry that children are actually interested in. Learning becomes an evolving journey, guided by children's input rather than a predetermined sequence.

Take the next step

Start here
A practical, self-paced introduction to The Floorbook Approach® — what it is, why it works, and how to begin using it in your setting. CPD-accredited and accessible anywhere, anytime. The fastest way to go from curious to confident.
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Go deeper
The definitive guide to The Floorbook Approach® in practice. Grounded in real case studies from settings across the UK, this book takes you from the foundations of child-led inquiry through to confident, reflective, curriculum-linked planning with children at the centre.
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Advanced Certification
A structured, expert-led learning pathway that takes you from understanding The Floorbook Approach® to fully embedding it in your setting — with an Advanced CPD Certificate upon completion. For practitioners ready to make child-led inquiry the foundation of everything they do.
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Meet Dr Claire Warden

The Creator of the Floorbook Approach

Dr Claire Warden has spent 35 years working directly with practitioners, children, and settings to redefine what child-led planning means.

The Floorbook Approach® grew from observing how whose curiosity was being sidelined by adult-led planning. The approach exists to close that gap between what practitioners believe, and what the systems asks for.

It is now embedded in national frameworks, recommended by The Care Inspectorate, and used by thousands of settings worldwide.

Work With Claire